Risk Pool Practice
TCT has developed a practice specifically designed to guide risk pools in their technology efforts.
INDUSTRY CONCERNS
We have identified several common challenges risk pools are facing. Here is a brief look at some of them.
Evaluating Technology Gaps:
Part of understanding your technology shortfalls is determining where you currently are and where you need to be in order to retain members and continue to provide excellent service in the digital age. Defining this gap provides a sense of how much work needs to be done in order to stay relevant.
Strategic Focus:
Technology is complicated and building a strategy can be difficult. We find one of the biggest areas of struggle is the ability to put together a strategic road map that allows you to focus your attention on what areas to attend to first, achieving the greatest impact.
Technology Decision Making:
Deciding which technology tools to add, which ones to sunset, and where to make longer term investments is complex. Some pools over engineer their systems wasting time and money, while others under engineer them and end up either playing catch up or trying to rationalize systems that don’t work well together. Right sizing technology decisions is an art that organizations need to master.
Technology Governance:
Hardware, Software, Data, Security… There are lots of factors at play in keeping your technology trajectory and processes organized. Some are operational, some financial, and others strategic. Establishing the right level of governance that engages executives and staff at the appropriate levels and takes these intersecting operational, financial, and strategic considerations into account is a vital way to start improving your use of technology.
Adopting a Member Perspective:
Understanding the journey your members have while interacting with you and your pool is crucial to improving service levels. Putting yourself in their shoes helps you better understand how it feels to interact with you and allows you to make improvements and adjustments, and in some cases to get in front of issues before they arise. This work is particularly helpful to inform your response to changing demographics among your primary pool contacts.
Customer Experience Tools:
It is important to be able to respond to your members in a timely and appropriate fashion. From a digital standpoint, this means assembling a set of tools that need to work together as one well-tuned “engine.” Building and utilizing this engine is essential to establishing and nurturing a great relationship with your members.
Technology Blueprinting:
We are all familiar with the old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words”. This is true for technology as well and is what technology blueprinting is all about. Visually representing your technology and systems reveals problem areas that you literally could not see before and could have easily missed, and can also serve as a translation layer between non-technical staff or executives and technologists.
Software Selection:
Have you ever walked into a room and realized that you were in over your head? Selecting the appropriate software can evoke a sense of insecurity. Knowing the right questions to ask and having the right contracts in place are necessary in preventing issues down the road.
OUR SOLUTIONS
We’ve helped risk pools in an array of different ways. Here are some of the more frequent ways we’ve worked to solve problems.
SOFTWARE SELECTION & IMPLEMENTATION
Striking a balance between the best interests for your organization and your technology vendor is essential to having a productive relationship. The VENDOR RELATIONSHIP & CONTRACTING PROCESS (VRCP) was developed by TCT with a team of technologists and legal advisors to equip you to look out for your organization’s best interests and establish excellent agreements from the start. It is designed to set up your team and your organization for the best possible outcome.
GAP ANALYSIS
TCT consultants will review your systems, culture, processes, and overall technology approach to help determine the gap between where you are (your current state) and where you’d like to be (your future state). We help determine what you need to bridge the gap between the two. A gap analysis helps reveal what you specifically need to achieve your goals and ensure that your technology strategy is aligned with those goals.
HUMALOGY® BASED LEAN
HUMALOGY® is the concept of understanding the integration between humans and technology to get a process done. Finding the most efficient balance between what humans do and what technology does provides the optimum point for productivity. We help you implement this process for maximizing the efficiency in your internal operations.
TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION
One of the best ways to equip your organization is through educating yourself and your team. TCT has public and private education course available, our public courses are hosted at TCT’s main office outside of Oklahoma City. Public courses offer the opportunity for leaders to interact with TCT specialists and consultants while learning in a collaborative environment with executives from other organizations and industries.
TESTIMONIALS
KATHY WETZEL
CIO – Texas Association of School Boards
“The leadership at TASB didn’t really understand technology very well. I think because of the knowledge that TCT has provided that leadership, they’re better equipped to make decisions. They’re better equipped to make investment decisions, what should we invest, what shouldn’t we invest in, I think they’ve spent a lot of money that maybe they didn’t need to and could have used that money in something else. I think a lot of it is just improving that knowledge at the leadership level which then helps drive better decisions.”
JAMES PRESCOTT
Administrator/President –Texas Medical Association Insurance Trust
“Your organization and team have so much to offer and do so in an understandable fashion. I would also add that the TCT team is ‘refreshing.’ You’re patient with our team and don’t make us feel like idiots. What you provide to TMAIT is relevant and executable.”
WHO WE ARE
We pride ourselves on being more than consultants, engineers, and educators. We’re partners wholly invested in our clients’ future, and love nothing more than seeing hard work come to fruition. It is our mission to provide one-of-a-kind service and advice to each organization that we work with. We are filled with a unique blend of people who possess diverse backgrounds and have come together for the purpose of improving the organizations we work with. For us, technology is not just about improving the bottom line. It’s a tool that we hope leaders will use to be a blessing on this world and to leave a positive legacy behind.